Rising Up With Sonali

Listen to story:https://ia801404.us.archive.org/15/items/2025-07-01-RUWS/2025_07_01_Fatime_India.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 25:30) This video content is only available to paid subscribers. (In a just world, all journalists would be paid a living wage and all media would be free) Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING INDIA WALTON & FATIMA IQBAL-ZUBAIR - It’s been a week since New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor, beating out the billionaire-backed former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani’s complex and intersecting heritage –he is an Indian Ugandan Muslim immigrant– coupled with his self-identification as a democratic socialist, has both, establishment Democrats, and Trumpian Republicans up in arms. ✍️EXCLUSIVE FOR our paid subscribers: a rough transcript of this interview below the video!Already Mamdani has received death threats and open calls for his deportation–all because he wants to increase taxes on New York City’s millionaires to pay for free buses and childcare, and enact rent freezes and municipal grocery stores. There are independent candidates like Mamdani who have come before him, and others who are coming after him - today we’ll bring on both to analyze his winning vision, how he can face the reactionary assault in November, and how his primary win paves the way for others.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721607.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-24-RUWS/2025_06_24_Anand_Pandian.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 27:15) So far 270 of you have upgraded to a paid subscription--help me get to 1,000 by Dec 31 so I can sustain this work. 👆🏾 Subscribe for $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING ANAND PANDIAN - There is an apparent disconnect between Americans who ardently back President Donald Trump and the rest of us. We live at a time when the walls between us, digital, physical, geographic, racial, and cultural, seem larger and more impenetrable than ever. ✍️EXCLUSIVE FOR our paid subscribers: a rough transcript of this interview below the video!Now, an anthropologist, Anand Pandian has explored these divisions in his new book and asks the all-important question of whether we can take down the walls.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721607.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-24-RUWS/2025_06_24_Marianne_Dhenin.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 16:28) This video content is behind a paywall until such a time as we achieve publicly funded journalism. Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING MARIANNE DHENIN - In Spring 2025, a coalition of organizers in St. Louis, Missouri launched a campaign with international scope. Under the banner “Not Another Nickel To Human Rights Violators,” the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, targeted Boeing and ICL Group over weapons that are being used in Israel’s genocide of Gaza. Those companies receive millions of dollars in tax breaks in exchange for housing their manufacturing plants in Missouri. ✍️EXCLUSIVE FOR our paid subscribers: a rough transcript of this interview below the video! This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721607.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-24-RUWS/2025_06_24_Kaveh_Ehsani.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 23:36) This video content is available to paid subscribers. (We hate paywalls too--but not as much as we hate an economy rigged to benefit billionaires!), Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING KAVEH EHSANI - President Donald Trump on Saturday June 21 made the stunning announcement that he had ordered more than a dozen "bunker-busting" bombs to be dropped on Iran’s nuclear sites called Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz, after days of contradictory reports following Israeli attacks. Then, days later, Iran announced it had attacked US bases in Qatar, but there were no casualties. Meanwhile, Israel has continued pounding Iran, even as Trump, in a typically Trumpian fashion, bombastically and unilaterally declared a ceasefire on social media.✍️EXCLUSIVE FOR our paid subscribers: a rough transcript of this interview below the video!Thousands of scholars in the US and beyond have signed on to a petition calling for an end to the war on Iran. According to the signatories, “Israel has deliberately undermined peaceful diplomacy,” and its war is “a calculated attempt to deflect attention from the ongoing genocide it is committing in Gaza.” Among those who circulated the letter is Kaveh Ehsani is associate professor of International Studies at DePaul University in Chicago. This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://archive.org/download/2025-06-17-RUWS/2025_06_17_Kylie_Sparks.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 14:37) This video is only available to paid subscribers for less than the cost of a Venti Frappucino at a union busting corporate chain per month. Subscribe for $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING KYLIE SPARKS - With millions of people marching in thousands of cities and towns across the United States last weekend, analysts are wondering how the immense energy demanding a stronger democracy and an end to Trumpism can actually manifest in the political system. 🫶Paid subscribers, enjoy the transcript of the interview below!The Democratic Party offered itself up as an effective alternative to Trump near the end of his first term, but with a growing consensus that Joe Biden’s presidency was disastrous, and with Kamala Harris’s loss last November, the time seems ripe for a complete reconfiguration of the liberal party–if not a replacement.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721604.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-17-RUWS/2025_06_17_Yohuru_Williams.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 22:54) Apologies for the paywall... but this video is only available to subscribers who join for $4 a month. It's QUICK, EASY and CHEAP! Click here to start your subscription FEATURING DR. YOHURU WILLIAMS - Five years ago, the racial justice uprising in the wake of George Floyd’s murder was in full swing, and Donald Trump during his first term pledged to “make Juneteenth famous.” June 19th is an important historical marker of the day in 1865 when a group of enslaved African Americans were finally told of the news of the emancipation proclamation that ensured their freedom – almost two and a half years after it was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.🔓Special feature for paid subscribers! Read the rough transcript of the interview below the video.Now, during Trump’s second term, when his attacks on communities of color, Black history, DEI initiatives, and more have escalated, how can we reset Juneteeth within the context of authoritarian white supremacy?  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721604.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-17-RUWS/2025_06_17_No_ICE_No_Kings.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 29:05) This video content is available for the bargain basement price of $4 a month! Trust me, you'll want to watch this. Subscribe NOW (5-day free trial) This past week the Los Angeles area has been marked by the terror of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, and by the resistance of ordinary people. Every day in cities across Southern California, people have been gathering in public spaces to demand an end to the raids, for city officials to pull back police and end an evening curfew in downtown LA. On Thursday June 12, hundreds of young people gathered in front of Pasadena City Hall in a protest that was publicized on social media by highschoolers on summer break. As part of our series Rising Up in the Streets, Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with some of the young folks gathered there, as well as a teacher, and a local activist with Black Lives Matter. ✊Available only to paid subscribers: Read the rough transcript of this report below the video.Just two days later, an estimated 30,000 people mobilized in downtown LA for the No Kings march and rally, part of a nationwide series of actions that was organized well before the ICE raids, to coincide with Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington DC. While reports from DC suggest Trump’s spectacle was a bust, an estimated 6-12 million people marched against his policies in more than 2000 cities nationwide. Sonali Kolhatkar brings you these sights, sounds, and voices from LA.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia600309.us.archive.org/9/items/2025-06-10-RUWS/2025_06_10_Pasadena.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 28:53) This video content is only available to paid subscribers. (You're missing out, and for what, a mere $4 a month?) Subscribe now with a 5-day free trial FEATURING PABLO ALVARADO, RICK COLE, AND OTHERS - On Sunday June 8, hundreds of protesters mobilized in the town of Pasadena, California, where I live, just a few miles from the border of the town of Altadena which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire. The protesters gathered outside AC Hotel near Old Town Pasadena, upon hearing reports that agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were hotel guests. ICE vans were spotted on the hotel’s rooftop parking structure and workers sent word that they were being questioned by ICE agents in their hotel rooms. ✍️Included with paid subscription: Rough transcript of the report below the video.As part of our on-going series Rising Up in the Streets, we bring you this special report featuring interviews with Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and Rick Cole, Pasadena City Council member. We’ll also hear an impassioned report from Griselda Diaz, a resident of South LA who was at a mass protest in Paramount, LA where ICE agents raided the area outside a Home Depot, and we’ll hear from poet Alejandro who rapped about being an immigrant at the impromptu Pasadena rally. Finally, we’ll go to Monrovia where ICE Agents reportedly transferred to a Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Protester Gloria will explain why she showed up outside the hotel. This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia600309.us.archive.org/9/items/2025-06-10-RUWS/2025_06_10_LARebellion.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 24:05) This video content is only available to paid subscribers. (Sorry for the paywall, but I promise you, it's worth it!)  Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) Barely five months after surviving wildfires that destroyed the towns of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, Southern California was hit by another invasion–this time consisting of federal agents swarming into workplaces to round up people suspected of being undocumented, and disappearing them. Tens of thousands of people have been gathering in downtown Los Angeles since June 5, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up at a Southern California Home Depot and an outlet in the garment district, detaining immigrant workers. A few hours later, ICE agents also violently arrested and detained prominent union leader David Huerta, President of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW).✍️Your paid subscription includes a rough transcript of this story below! LA has become an epicenter of the resistance to President Donald Trump’s policy to criminalize and deport undocumented people. In this immigrant-rich city, cultures, nationalities, and races have mixed and mingled for generations. I was on the streets of downtown LA on Monday June 9, and bring you this special report as part of our Rising Up in the Streets series. You’ll hear the voices of April Verrett, SEIU’s first Black president, and Dolores Huerta, legendary labor leader, speaking from the stage at Grand Park at a rally for David Huerta. (Mr. Huerta was charged and freed from ICE custody later in the day.) I also spoke with Pastor Cue of Clergy and Laity United for Justice, former West Covina mayor Brian Calderón Tabatabai, of Working Families Party, Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations LA, and State Assembly member Isaac Bryan.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721904.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-06-03-RUWS/2025_06_03_Judy_Karofsky.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 22:56) This video content is only available to paid subscribers. (We hate paywalls too--that's why this one is SO cheap!)  Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING JUDY KAROFSKY - There are tens of thousands of assisted living facilities in the United States, institutions where elderly people live and die, their families hoping to have their needs met professionally and with dignity. But not only are such facilities unaffordable, they are riddled with problems. ✍️New feature for paid subscribers! Read the rough transcript of the interview below.Through personal experience with navigating the system to care for her mother, Judy Karofsky explores how elder care is broken and how to fix it, in a new book called DisElderly Conduct: The Flawed Business of Assisted Living and Hospice. This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in